Opalesque Roundtable: Singapore wins battle to spearhead Asian wealth management

Opalesque has published a 25 page protocol of a hedge fund Roundtable (the Opalesque 2011 Singapore Roundtable) held March 31st with local hedge fund managers, banking and family office representatives. The Opalesque Roundtable Series highlights fundamental developments within the global hedge fund industry, a full archive with 49 Roundtable scripts can be accessed here: www.opalesque.com/index.php?act=archiveRT. The current Singapore Roundtable can be downloaded here: www.opalesque.com/RT/RoundtableSingapore2011.html.

Singapore wins battle to spearhead Asian wealth management

We are in the middle of the third huge wave of wealth creation over the last 150 years. If you look back, a number of European family offices were formed in the first part of the 19th century. The great American family offices were formed in the later parts of the 19th and early parts of the 20th century. For the time being and the foreseeable future, the big capital market flows are in and to Asia, which together with the continued industrialization of the region will eventually lead to the founding of some of the great family offices and private wealth domains in Asia.

Apart from becoming an investment hub, Singapore has been increasingly positioning its financial industry as a wealth management center. Hinting at the age-old competition between Hong Kong and Singapore, the participants of the 2011 Opalesque Singapore Roundtable concluded “that battle has been won as Hong Kong’s government does not seem to have focused on that sector.”

Asian ultra high net worth individuals are typically first generation wealth who made their money as entrepreneurs. While most of the second or third generation wealth prefer to let the invested money just pay their dividend cheque, this Roundtable explains how Asia's rich continue to create wealth and details their idiosyncratic investment preferences whose understanding is vital for anyone doing business in the region. In addition, the Roundtable examines what went wrong in Asia's private banking boom and where the assets are concentrating right now.

A fertile ground for hedge fund investing – Singapore finalizes hedge fund regulations

Asia is a very fertile ground for hedge fund investing. More than ever, hedge fund investors today have a larger and better pool to choose from, and the quality of the new launches has been very good as well. Another remarkable development has been the emergence of more non-equity related strategies.

Statistically there are more funds investing in Asia today than ever before. The number of funds investing in Asia is now in the order of about 1,200 - about 100 more than before the crisis.

Singapore's regulator, the MAS, went through a lengthy consultation process regarding future regulation. The new regulation is scheduled to be introduced in the second half of this year and will be centered around competency, capital requirements, residency and governance.

In 2010, around 95 hedge funds were set up in 2010 in Asia. 65 or 67 of those were in Hong Kong, and about 15 in Singapore. The lower figure for Singapore may possibly be due to the uncertainty surrounding Singapore's future regulation. Now as there is more certainty about regulation, Singapore may again grow proportionally compared to Hong Kong.

The 2011 Opalesque Singapore Roundtable was sponsored by Custom House Group and took place March 31st 2011 in their Singapore office with:
• Steve Diggle, Founder, Vulpes Investment Management
• Peter Douglas, Founder, GFIA
• Bryan Goh, Head of Alternatives, DBS Bank
• Peter Gibson, CEO, Dynasty Family Office
• Daryl Liew, Head Portfolio Management, Reyl Singapore
• Brad McCarthy, Managing Director, Permal
• Ralph Chicktong, Managing Director, Custom House Singapore

The Roundtable discussion also highlights:
• Asia's rich invest in Asia: what steers wealthy investors away from Europe and America
• How incentives for investment banks and Asian private banks became at odds with their clients and why hedge funds and independent wealth boutiques benefit
• How to differentiate between the “opportunist” hedge fund manager and a true maverick
• How investor behavior contributes to high correlations of Asian managers
• Why due diligence in Asia is generally much easier than in the U.S.
• Words of warnings: How to avoid too much directional risk in Asia

About the Opalesque Roundtable Series:

Opalesque Roundtable Series is an unparalleled collection of intelligence on the most important global hedge fund jurisdictions and players. In each Opalesque Roundtable, Opalesque unites some of the leading hedge fund managers (single and multi strategy managers) as well as representatives of the local investor base (institutions, fund of funds, advisers) to gain unique insights into the specific idiosyncrasies and developments, the issues and advantages of the highlighted hedge fund centers.

The Opalesque 2011 Roundtable Series are supported by Custom House Group. All Opalesque Roundtable Scripts can be accessed here: http://www.opalesque.com/index.php?act=archiveRT
Matthias Knab, founder of Opalesque and internationally recognized expert on hedge funds and alternatives, moderates the Opalesque Roundtables.

About Opalesque:
In 2003, with the publication of its daily Alternative Market Briefing, Opalesque successfully launched an information revolution in the hedge fund media space: "Opalesque changed the world by bringing transparency where there was opacity and by delivering an accurate professional reporting service." - Nigel Blanchard, Culross. This hybrid financial news service, which combines proprietary industry news stories and filtered third party reports, has been credited by many industry insiders with delivering precise, accurate, and vital information to a notoriously guarded audience.

Each week, Opalesque sends out over 700,000 editions of its seventeen publications to a global readership in over 170 countries. Opalesque is the only daily hedge fund publisher which is actually read by the elite managers themselves (http://www.opalesque.com/op_testimonials.html).

PO Box 649
New York, NY 10028
U.S.A.

This release was published on openPR.